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Slavery
The abolition of slavery was one of the first laws that King Mathados the Founder enacted after founding the Kingdom of Ascaria. This decree abolishing chattel slavery, known as the Declaration of Manumission, was carried on by the Republic of Nesaria and Nesarian Empire, and was vigorously enforced within the lands that Emperor Athdus III conquered or otherwise annexed. Slavery was never recognised as a legal practice in Elavita and (if the records are true, at least) there were no slaves in Elavita, but it was not formally outlawed until it joined with the Nesarian Empire after the War Against the Xaenis. Slavery was outlawed in Avamoria after it declared independence, as many of the native Avamoric people were still owning and trading slaves during that time. The Elvic nations, for the most part, opposed and continue to oppose slavery because of their religion. The opposition to slavery is one of the core teachings of Elveta. This sentiment was not shared by other religions, which either had no stance towards slavery or openly permitted it, or even in some cases actively encouraged it, such as in the case of Morrokhi. When Emperor Athdus III went about on his conquests, he demanded the freeing of all slaves, enforcing the death penalty for all slave-owners who refused. This made the nobles of the lands he conquered furious, but won him a great deal of support amonst the common people, especially the newly freed slaves. Many of the newly freed slaves went on to join Athdus' army as auxiliaries. Athdus used some of the loot from his campaigns (particularly the loot from Osdarth) to pay compensation to some of the Estemorian nobles, which pacified them a little, although they were still greatly annoyed by losing their slaves. It is likely that this move was encouraged by his wife Avemiri, who herself never had slaves do work for her but had previously sold off prisoners of war as slaves. The society that took the loss of slaves the hardest was Draconia, as previously all non-Dragon races had been considered slaves to the Dragons, and their caste system had to be quickly re-organised to keep the Dragons on top. Although slavery in Nesaria is often associated with the Mortian Orcs, these were not the only slavers within Nesaria and other nations kept larger slave populations and treated them worse. All non-Elvic states (and even a few Elvic ones) kept slave populations prior to Nesarian rule, and the country with the highest proportion of slaves was in fact Indissia at an estimated 20%, although some historians claim that the ancient Qaateeni empire had an even higher proportion of just under half of its entire population as slaves. This is of course excluding Draconia, where all non-Dragons were slaves, meaning that more or less 99% of the population would have been slaves, although in practical terms these slaves were more like serfs than chattel slaves. Slavery in the Western Desert Of all the nations that now constitute the Nesarian Empire, those of the Western Desert were the most prolific slavers and also generally the ones who had the least negative opinion of slavery, whereas in many nations (particularly Osdarth) slavery was often seen as at least a little unsavoury. The slave population starkly rose with the rise of the Indissian Empire, which took a large amount of slaves during its conquests and which had generally always maintained a higher proportion of slaves than its neighbours. Within the system of slavery practiced in the Western Desert, there were three legally recognised classes of slave: Infidel Slaves, Low Slaves, and Noble Slaves. These classes and the laws surrounding their treatment were inherited from the collapsed Qaateeni Empire. Infidel Slaves Infidel Slaves were, as the name suggests, slaves who were not of the Nakkalite faith. These slaves were treated the worst, often given the toughest jobs and the poorest food and housing, and there were neither laws nor social customs regulating their treatment. They were forbidden from practicing their infidel faith in any form, including prayer, although of course many continued to pray and worship silently and secretly. Infidel Slaves were also forbidden from being set free. It is generally assumed that Infidel Slaves were treated badly in order to convince them to convert to Nakkalism, whereupon they would live in better conditions. Low Slaves Low Slaves were the most numerous class of slave, and they were in essence "typical" slaves. The most common job given to a Low Slave was to work in the fields, however they were also commonly used to produce bricks, and many were set to work building roads, aqueducts and lower-class housing (generally speaking, the wealthier preferred their houses to be built by free men, as they were deemed to be of higher quality). Low Slaves had some very basic rights and protections given to them by the state, for example there were laws prohibiting beating slaves for no reason, and Low Slaves were not allowed to receive more than two lashes as punishment for a genuine mistake. Raping a Low Slave was also prohibited (and punished by death, just like any other rape) and the child of any such rape was considered free. Children resulting in consensual sex between a Low Slave and their master were still slaves, but they were Noble Slaves. However, the Low Slaves were incapable of bringing charges against their masters themselves and had to rely on others, meaning many infractions went unpunished. Noble Slaves Noble Slaves were, broadly speaking, house slaves and slaves performing specialist, high-skilled work. A person of noble blood who became a slave became a Noble Slave, and Low Slaves were sometimes promoted to Noble Slaves for exceptional displays of loyalty and duty. As mentioned earlier, the (consensual) child of a Low Slave and their master was also considered a Noble Slave. Noble Slaves had the highest degree of legal protection, and they had free access to special courts which gave the Noble Slave a means to bring charges against their masters for both infractions against themselves and other slaves. Noble Slaves were not allowed to be beaten at all for genuine mistakes, and could not receive more than twenty lashes per infraction. Although both rape and sex outside of marriage was prohibited by law, and a master had to set a slave free in order to marry them, the existence of sex slaves (or "concubines", as many of them were referred to as) was acknowledged, and it was made mandatory that sex slaves should be promoted to Noble Slaves.